More about this series at TV.com (episode guide by Annie Martin)
1. First Flush
In the first episode Daisy Goodwin explores poetry for the first days of meeting someone, never losing hope that you can find someone you can truly love.
Douglas Henshall read from Valedictory (Ithaka) by CP Cavafy:
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery. ....
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
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5.Love in a Life
This episode is about the power of enduring love, the long term relationship through to the death of a loved one.
Douglas Henshall read from A Red, Red, Rose by Robert Burns:
Oh My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose
Oh my love is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
My love is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
So fair art thou, my bonny lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun
And l will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee well, my only love!
And fare thee well awhile!
And I will come again, my love
Though it were ten thousand mile.